After a few years working on the road away from the internets I'm back.

What's new with me?

In January my wife and daughter moved back to her old home in South Australia. I stayed behind in the US to work and maintain an income and then joined them in June. We were living in a small farming town in the southeast of South Australia.

Because of the immigration process, I am not legally allowed to work, but have managed to remain busy. My wife gave birth to our second daughter in late July, two months premature. The nearest hospital that could care for a baby that small was in the capitol city of Adelaide, a 4-hour drive. This basically forced us to move to the city. We're now living in an Adelaide suburb and the baby's home and doing well.

I should be allowed to start working in early January and am considering a FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) position at a mining company in the NT or WA. Pay is brilliant (80-100k starting) and my family is already used to the schedule.

As for cars, my wife first purchased a '97 Holden Apollo (a lightly rebadged '96 Toyota Camry) but with the 2.2 and an auto, I quickly became bored with it. It also got poor fuel economy in the city and had some significant repairs coming up so we sold it for our current car, a '96 Nissan Pulsar SSS.

The old members may recall I'm a huge Nissan fan. The Pulsar SSS features an SR20DE motor (this variant revving to 7500 rpm), one of the best 5-speed manuals available at the time, and sport tuned suspension and steering, in a five-door hatchback. Although it seems mild by today's standards, the Pulsar SSS was THE Aussie hot-hatch of its time.

It's currently bone-stock. Not having a job means funding mods is a little tough and I've been focusing on getting the car into top-shape first, but I've seen 0-100 k/hr times as low as 8.34s with 400m coming in 16.17 @ 146...according to my iPhone (so take those times with a grain of salt).

One thing I love about Adelaide over my old home in Minnesota is the presence of mountain roads just outside the city, and the Pulsar is a blast on them. The steering is light, but communicative and the suspension absorbs bumps well, and you can really steer with the throttle. Lift a little and the car tucks right in and you can feel the rear rotating around you, then get on the throttle and the car settles down nicely. Torque steer and under steer are mild and predictable.

Anyway, I'll try to be around a bit more. Have fun and thanks for still being here.

Shadowlife25

10-19-2013, 03:45 AM

Welcome back man :) Glad that you are doing well after all this time and congratulations on the new addition.